Giannis Antetokounmpo adds to a stellar resume with Emirates NBA Cup MVP

On By Littum

Giannis Antetokounmpo records an impressive triple-double to lead the Bucks to the 2024 Emirates NBA Cup.

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LAS VEGAS – The trophy had arrived an hour earlier, Most Valuable Player of the Emirates NBA Cup Championship, and it sat like a proud, silent statement in front of an elated Giannis Antetokounmpo as he spoke to reporters.

Then came the question of that trophy, and to his credit, the Bucks star didn’t give the easy answer.

Does that award go to the best player or does it mean the manager of the team that wins?

Antetokounmpo was covered both ways, mind you. He had guided the Bucks to a 7-0 mark in bracket and knockout round games, capping that Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena with a thorough 97-81 dunk by the tenacious Oklahoma City Thunder.

Individually, he was terrific with a triple-double — 26 points, 19 rebounds, 10 assists — that included three blocks and a pair of steals. So winning the MVP unanimously could have been about his stats and his dominance, period.

However, it’s inconceivable that Milwaukee could have dusted itself off a 2-8 start and navigated its current 13-3 run without Antetokounmpo leading the way.

“The Greek freak” could have simply said “both” to the double-barrelled question. Or he could have gone with the management part, more palatable than the inherent bragging rights of being the best.

Instead, he considered it and peeled back several layers.

“When you approach a game like this, you don’t think about MVPs. You think about trying to win the game,” Antetokounmpo said. “And sometimes when you try to do whatever it takes, you put yourself in position to be successful and you’re able to get a trophy like that.

“I don’t know why I got the MVP. I’m glad I got it. I don’t take it for granted. I’m mostly glad we won the game. Some of my teammates got life-changing money.”

Members of the winning team each got about $514,000 for the title game (with two-way players on the fringes of the roster getting half that amount). Antetokounmpo shared that one of the Bucks’ two-way players, center Liam Robbins, a native of Davenport, Iowa, became something of a poster child for the extra Cup money.

“We had this joke on the team about Liam that I promised him from the first Cup game, I said ‘We’re going to go all the way and we’re going to get you a house in Iowa,'” Antetokounmpo said. . “So after every game I think, ‘Hey, one step closer to your house in Iowa.’

“After the game I went to the dressing room and I saw smiles on their faces.”

The Bucks’ star joins Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James as the MVPs for the two Cup editions. James won the inaugural trophy last December and, like Antetokounmpo, took the event, the competition, the prize money and the individual glory seriously from the start.

Antetokounmpo did the same, circling the cup title at the start of the group stage. It was a commitment the NBA certainly appreciated, given the ever-evolving importance of the fledgling competition. It was a focus the Bucks needed to revive their season.

“I don’t think you can wash away (the bad start),” Milwaukee teammate Damian Lillard said, “but we’ve shown the team we started the season that it’s not the team we are now and it never was who we really were.”

Of Antetokounmpo, with whom his on-court chemistry has improved significantly, Lillard added, “I don’t think the Cup (or the MVP) was something Giannis was just determined to win. I just think it’s the he is. Just the background he comes from. His journey to become the superstar he is is a tough one.

“So when you get to this point, you don’t want to stop.”

Coach Doc Rivers, who had not yet been hired by the Bucks when they were ousted last year by Indiana in the Cup semifinals, was asked how much working with Antetokounmpo factored into his decision to come from the TV sideline last winter. On a proverbial scale from 1 to 10.

“I mean, a 10, right?” Rivers said after the game. “To coach a Giannis, to coach a Dame, to see that group, a veteran group, it’s a great opportunity for a coach. This group gives you an opportunity to coach them, they really do.

“They let you train them hard. No one takes anything personally. I even said it last year, it was like training adults if you know what I mean. They understand that you have to tell them the truth and they deal with it.”

Doc Rivers and Giannis Antetokounmpo share their thoughts following Milwaukee’s victory over Oklahoma City in the Emirates NBA Cup Championship.

The MVP contest on Tuesday was set up as a star vs. star situation between the two Cup finalists. Had OKC won, guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander likely would have claimed the award. When the Bucks won, Antetokounmpo was the easy choice (with some wiggle room if Lillard exploded offensively).

The Cup title and its MVP add to Antetokounmpo’s resume, which is already loaded with accolades: Eight-time All-Star and All-NBA, five-time All-Defensive team, Most Improved Player in 2017, Defensive Player of the Year in 2020, consecutive Kia. NBA MVP awards in 2019 and 2020, All-Star Game MVP in 2021, Finals MVP in the same year and a spot on the NBA Top 75 anniversary team announced two years ago.

It’s been a long journey for the lanky kid from Athens, Greece, built like a Tootsie Pop, on whom the Bucks played No. 15 in 2013. In that time, Antetokounmpo has cobbled together a Hall of Fame legacy.

And the thing is, he never appeared happier – just as happy, sure, but no happier – than he did on Tuesday.

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Steve Aschburner has been writing about the NBA since 1980. You can email him herefind his archive here and follow him on X.

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